Whipping Up A Tort: Actions Based On Privacy

It seems to me that, having regard to current conditions in this country, and developments of the law in other common law jurisdictions, the time is ripe for consideration whether a tort of invasion of privacy should be recognised in this country, or whether legislatures should be left to determine whether provisions for a remedy for it should be made.

The above quotation is a small insight into the debate that has surrounded the development of the tort of privacy, both in Australia and other common law jurisdictions, during the previous decade. With courts often deferring to the role of Parliament in fully developing the ‘right to privacy’ concept, privacy rights in Australia have tended to develop under breach of confidence principles. This has left the law in a position where the tort of privacy has been accepted as practically existing, although no free-standing principles have been enunciated. As this paper will illustrate, common law countries have followed a